GLENDALE, Calif. — Two individuals have been detained in relation to the theft of a wedding gift box in Glendale, tarnishing what should have been a memorable evening for a couple from Orange County.
One of the suspects is accused of stealing roughly $60,000 from the couple, and the other was the alleged getaway driver.
Within days of the couple’s unfortunate experience at their own wedding, authorities were able to retrieve thousands of dollars that were stolen, as well as additional unexpected findings.
A now-viral video shows the thief making off with the bride and groom’s gift box last weekend.
It was a wedding day disaster as a heartless wedding crasher stole tens of thousands of dollars meant to help a couple start their life together.
Though dressed in a black suit and dress shoes that helped him blend in at Nadeen and George Farahat’s wedding attended by 300 guests, the thief was unable to evade the keen eyes of security cameras, which captured clear images of his uncovered face during various moments of the heist.
“We received numerous tips from the public, some more useful than others, which allowed us to quickly identify the suspects involved,” stated Sgt. Jose Barajas of the Glendale Police Department.
Mere days after the couple exchanged vows, Glendale Police captured Armean Shirehjini, believed to be the man who brazenly moved across the dance floor and made off with tens of thousands of dollars worth of cash and checks from the Renaissance Banquet Hall.
Police identified the getaway driver as Andranik Avetisyan.
ABC Los Angeles affiliate KABC spoke with the newlyweds earlier this week.
“I ended up sitting on the dance floor, sobbing with my friends and cousins around me,” the bride, Nadeen, said.
Glendale police say they recovered a pile of checks and a good amount of cash inside a safe at the suspect’s home.
“Evidently, the perpetrator struck it big, managing to steal approximately $60,000 along with several checks. However, we succeeded in recovering 26 checks and around $10,000,” according to Barajas.
There was another surprising find when police executed search warrants on both Shirehjni’s and Avetisyan’s homes: a large amount of drugs and a ton of guns.
“Detectives executed search warrants at both suspects’ residences and recovered a large amount of cash and dozens of checks made out to the victims from the wedding,” according to the police statement. “In addition, several firearms and various narcotics were seized from both residences.”
Despite what might look like the guns, drugs and cash haul you’d see from an organized criminal enterprise, police say neither suspect had a criminal history of doing this, and the theft was likely a crime of opportunity.
“Glendale has a lot of banquet halls, a lot of weddings every single weekend, so we believe that maybe this was just a random location that they decided to pick,” Barajas said.
No weapons were used at the wedding, but police say Shirehjini was armed when he was arrested on Friday night.
The happily married couple, who KABC spoke with before the arrests were made and all the guns were found, are vowing to focus on all the fun before the theft.
“We had a wonderful ceremony at our church. We had a really fun party with our family and friends, and we were able to celebrate up until the incident,” the groom, George, said. “We’re trying to focus on the fun times, the important things to us, and the fact that we’re married.”
KABC asked police if any or all of the guns were purchased legally, and they said they are looking into it. They’re also looking into the drugs and what appear to be fake IDs that were recovered.
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